ODDS ‘N’ ENDS

(Originally run 2/25/04 on our old site)

Tom Pry

The other day, I asked who’d started this stuff about the May Pole. Don Thompson, ever the (censored), replied:

The question has been asked: Who raised the question of May Poles here in the first place and, frankly, I can't remember. Anyone -tlp- That's easy. Just go to the searcyyesteryear easyjournal and select show all entries, scroll down, and select 2.5.2004 // May Day Celebrations. Don

My response, originally, was to remind Don of Cleopatra’s famous last words (“Nobody likes a wise asp!”) but now I have an even better rejoinder: you’re wrong.

It was on 1/27/04, when we ran this bit:

Looking for any memories of Searcy Public Schools Mayday events when they started and when and why they stopped. Any memories out there about this? Not sure where the email addresses are listed so I haven't listed mine. So far have never had a virus or worm, don't want any.

Thanks

Don't seem to be able to send this with my name and no email

Or with the email address, only under anonymous so, if anyone will just send this query to the readers, I would appreciate it.

In short, we STILL don’t know who raised the question .. but we DO have this memory:

Ruth Ann Fuller

I remember practicing winding the May Pole at the side of the old grammar school building when I was in sixth grade. They had recorded music. We loved recess time so we could practice. Then on May 1, we wound the May Poles...there seemed to be a football field full of them. However, I think there were six spread out over the field. They had recorded music from the press box. The girls all wore white dresses. Boys escorted us up to the May Poles and then we wound them to the music. We just thought it was the greatest thing.

Wilma Morris Shinley


My husband, Roy, said you didn't say in your Searcyyesteryear piece that he is also from Searcy. He graduated from Harding Academy in 1957.

I am thinking of writing a piece on Miss Krueger if I can get all my thoughts together about her. She was a lifesaver for me the last year of high school, maybe other people remember her too. I don't know how to submit an article to the site though; please let me know how.

Do you remember Billy Buckley? Do you know what happened to him?

Do you know anything about "The Lion's Roar", the school newspaper we started my senior year (56-57)? Larry Miles and I were co-editors, although he didn't do very much. I didn't save any copies of it, but wish I had now. Does it still exist?

Tom Pry

Well … to take things in order:

As I explained in my reply, I have this bad habit of considering all Hardingites as having come from Somewhere Else, not from Searcy. I, unfortunately, did that with Roy, too. Mea culpa.

I still remember when Mrs. Krueger came along. While you can’t imagine a high school without a counselor now, she was our first and, fortunately for so many of us, she was good at her work.

There came the day when she called me in, this after observing the student body for awhile, to tell me, “You’re the kind of person who wants everyone to like you. You’re also one of those people, like Eleanor Roosevelt, that people either LIKE very much or DISlike very much, almost instantly. Regardless of whether they like you or not, though, they find it impossible to IGNORE you. I just wanted to forewarn you that you’re going to run across those people who can’t stand you, for no discernible reason, and there won’t be a thing you can do about it. All you can do is be prepared for it, and accept it when it happens.”

These words came in very handy, almost immediately, and often enough thereafter to be some of the most useful advice I’ve ever gotten.

Billy Buckley draws a blank in my mind, as does “The Lion’s Roar.” Anyone?

So far as submissions go … much the simplest way to go is to send it to me via e-mail, either in just an e-mail form, or as a Word attachment. Don’t worry about grammar, punctuation, or those other niceties: that’s my job.

Or, if push comes to shove, leave a message on the website. Below each entry is a comments link. Sign on as “anonymous” but include your name (and, if you’ve never given it to me, your e-mail address) someplace in the comment. I’ll copy it out and delete the comment, unless it’s obvious that you intended it to accompany the entry just as it is.

You can write me at tompry@gmail.com .

Dan E. Randle

On http://groups.msn.com/searcymemories, you might inform the people that I must have been looking into a mirror when I said to look on the right side of the screen for the page number and arrow to go to the next page. Actually I was just checking your editing abilities. You believe that, right?

It’s in the upper left – and, sure, I believe that, Dan … but, then, I always was gullible.

Wilma Morris Shinley (class of ’57) also asked why Dan, on his classmates.com listing, was showing a school system “up east.” Dan’s reply:

The reason I am listed in those other schools is because Loretta is from New Jersey, and I couldn't see paying for two fees for classmates.com. By the way, somewhere I heard that people are going away from schoolmates.com because they are so expensive. I know that I haven't paid the last few years. The cost for what I got just didn't add up to any value.

Finally, a 1955 clipping that was run, at the time, in all seriousness. Hearken back to those innocent, innocent days of our youth.